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Thread: Michael Dean Overstreet - Indiana Death Row

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Murder victim’s family upset over killer’s death sentence hearing

    He was sentenced to die for a notorious abduction and murder 16 years ago, but now Michael Overstreet will undergo a new hearing to decide whether or not he’s mentally fit for the death penalty.

    Overstreet was convicted of murdering Franklin College student Kelly Eckart 16 years ago.

    On Thursday, Eckart’s family spoke to Fox 59 about their frustration with the recent decision by the Indiana Supreme Court, which could allow Overstreet to avoid the death penalty.

    In the 16 years since Kelly Eckart’s brutal abduction, rape and murder in Johnson County, her family has accomplished many things in her honor including a scholarship and a state law for victims’ rights bearing her name.

    “A lot of good has happened,” said Kelly’s mother Connie Sutton. “It makes me feel good, makes me smile, makes me happy to be her mom.”

    But Sutton says her happiness fades when she hears about her daughter’s killer, which is why this week has been hard.

    “I’m always concerned when we have to go to court,” Sutton said. “But I still believe that the law is on our side and so is God.”

    Connie says she doesn’t believe the courts will allow Overstreet to avoid the death penalty, especially considering the way he killed her daughter.

    “He knew what he was doing when he did it or he wouldn’t have tried to hide it, move her and lie about it,” Sutton said.

    Overstreet’s attorney and a psychiatrist now say that he is unable to understand why the state plans to execute him. Connie says she believes his recent behavior is from over-medication.

    “He wasn’t like that during trial, but then the last time I saw him it seemed like he was overmedicated and he was just kind of not all there,” Sutton said.

    “Why do we have to drag this on and on and on?” asked Chris Eckart, Kelly Eckart’s brother.

    Chris Eckart was just 15 when his sister was murdered, and he’s now lived even longer waiting for her killer to die.

    “If you commit a crime as heinous as he did, I don’t think there is any other punishment that should be done,” Eckart said.

    “You know, I don’t really want to sit and watch somebody die but, for what he did, he deserves to die,” Sutton said.

    Even if Overstreet avoids the death penalty and he goes to prison for life, Connie says she still believes someone will be on their side.

    “This story has been so big for so long that there’s people in (prison) that are going to know what he did and they’ll take care of things,” Sutton said.

    The Supreme Court ordered that a hearing and a decision on Overstreet’s sentence must be made by early March.

    http://fox59.com/2013/09/05/murder-v...#ixzz2e4wsZlLw
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  2. #12
    Moderator Dave from Florida's Avatar
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    I can understand Kelly's family's frustration. However, it is better to have the insanity issue resolved so the death warrant can be carried out without delay. Had the Indiana Supreme Court set the execution date, a stay would be granted to have the Ford/Panetti hearing. Hopefully this guy can get the needle next year.

  3. #13
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    Johnson County Judge to Hear Death Row Inmate's Case

    The attorney for a man sitting on death row for killing a Franklin College student 16 years ago is going to try again to stop his client's execution and this time it could be his last attempt.

    The "Daily Journal" reports the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last week that a new psychiatric evaluation of Michael Dean Overstreet was enough evidence to conduct a hearing to consider whether he is mentally fit to be executed. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a person who is insane cannot be put to death.

    Overstreet was convicted of abducting, raping and murdering Kelly Eckart, a Franklin College student from Boggstown, in 1997. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to death in Johnson County in 2000.

    The upcoming case will be considered by Judge Cynthia Emkes, who presided over Overstreet's original trial. Since then, she also has considered and denied one appeal in his sentence.

    http://www.dailyjournal.net/

    http://wcsi.whiterivernews.com/templ...7874&storyno=1
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  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Addict Stro07's Avatar
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    Does killer fathom his execution?

    By Tim Evans
    The Indianapolis Star

    Nearly 15 years have passed since Michael Dean Overstreet was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Franklin College freshman Kelly Eckart.

    After a series of state and federal appeals, including an unsuccessful attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, Overstreet is facing what could be his final chance to escape death by lethal injection. The current challenge focuses on whether Overstreet, 47, is able to understand his fate and why the state wants to execute him.

    The long and twisted legal case is coming to a head as support for the death penalty is at a 40-year low and there are growing concerns about the use of lethal injections. That concern was highlighted by an execution Jan. 16 in Ohio where the condemned man gasped and appeared to suffer for several minutes before dying.

    It also comes as Eckart's family is saying enough is enough.

    "I just think it needs to be done," said the victim's mother, Connie Sutton, "so we can move on with our lives and Kelly can finally rest in peace."

    Sutton may get her wish for a final resolution to the legal wrangling that has been part of her life since 2000, but the outcome may not provide the ultimate justice she desires.

    "Generally speaking, the chances for reversing a death penalty case diminish with each proceeding," said Joel Schumm, a law professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. "Here, though, the claim is new and different. Competence to be executed is not a claim that is ripe until near the time of the execution."

    It also is possible that Overstreet's attorneys may challenge the lethal injection protocol, Schumm added, "in light of the recent problems on Ohio."

    But as the case grinds toward a final resolution, it is an agonizing time for all involved.

    Case back before trial judge

    Overstreet's fate is back in the hands of Johnson Superior Court Judge Cynthia S. Emkes, the same judge who sentenced him to death 14 years ago.

    His prior appeals focused on issues such as the effectiveness of his trial attorneys, his mental state at the time of the crime and procedural decisions at his trial. The new competency challenge, according to at least one medical expert, is one that Overstreet is unable to grasp.

    The Indiana Supreme Court, in an order issued Sept. 3, sent the case back to Emkes to decide claims by Overstreet's lawyers that he "is not currently competent to be executed."

    The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from executing a person who is incompetent. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that "encompasses persons 'who are unaware of the punishment that they are about to suffer and why they are to suffer it,'" the state Supreme Court order notes.

    The state Supreme Court directed Emkes to issue judgment in the case no later than March 3. But that deadline was extended, and no new end-date has been set. A hearing, which could last a week or more, should be scheduled soon.

    Criminal defendants often raise incompetence or insanity defenses at the time of determining guilt, but it is less common at time of sentencing.

    Public defender Steven Schutte, who has represented Overstreet in state appeals since 2005, called the competency challenge "pretty rare." The standard for proof, he explained, "is very exacting and precise."

    "I've been doing these cases for 20 years, and it is not normal for competency to be raised," Schutte said. "Dean is the first guy, in my experience, that I thought was not able to understand what's going on."

    'He's not malingering'


    Overstreet is not, Schutte said, faking his mental problems.

    The Supreme Court sent the case back to Emkes based on a report from forensic psychiatrist Dr. Rahn K. Bailey, who examined Overstreet twice in 2013. He concluded "Overstreet does not have, and does not have the ability to produce, a rational understanding of why the state of Indiana plans to execute him."

    "There's no doubt that he's not malingering," Schutte said. "There's no doubt that he's not exaggerating."

    Overstreet did not pursue an insanity defense in his trial, claiming innocence instead. But his mental problems were raised during the penalty phase that resulted in him receiving the death penalty.

    The state is being represented in the appeals case by staff from the Indiana attorney general's office.

    "The state's legal position," spokesman Bryan Corbin said, "continues to be that the underlying sentence should remain intact and not be overturned."

    Emkes' ruling in the case may not be the final word, legal experts said, because it can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

    But unless a new challenge is mounted over issues related to the lethal injection process, the long legal fight should finally end with a the state's high court ruling on Overstreet's competency.

    The challenge before Overstreet's attorneys is not a simple one.

    Competency a tricky issue

    The issue of competency is "one of the most disturbing aspects of the death penalty," said Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has left the process for determining competency to the states, she said. The result: prisoners she and others believe were incompetent have been executed in other states.

    "We are concerned that states do not have adequate procedures to make that determination," she said. "I am hoping that the Indiana officials and courts take a close look at that issue."

    Schumm, the IU law professor, said the prosecution will likely present testimony from other doctors who disagree with the opinion the forensic psychiatrist presented to the state Supreme Court.

    "The trial judge will ultimately need to weigh the conflicting evidence, and the Indiana Supreme Court will give deference to her determination," he said.

    To prevail, Schumm said Overstreet's attorneys will need to convince the judge of three things: Overstreet suffers from a severe, documented mental illness; that mental illness is the source of gross delusions; and those gross delusions place the "link between a crime and its punishment in a context so far removed from reality" that it prevents him from "comprehending the meaning and purpose of the punishment to which he has been sentenced."

    Schumm said Overstreet's long-standing diagnosis as paranoid schizophrenic likely satisfies the first requirement.

    "The third requirement," he added, "may be the most challenging to meet."

    Indiana's Death Row

    Overstreet is one of 13 inmates on Death Row in Indiana.

    He was convicted and sentenced in 2000, three years after Eckart was abducted while heading home from her night shift job at a Wal-Mart. Authorities said he didn't know Eckart but somehow tricked the 18-year-old into stopping her car at an intersection on the outskirts of Franklin where it was found abandoned, with the headlights on and keys in the ignition.

    Eckart's body was discovered four days later in a ravine in Brown County. Acting on information provided by Overstreet's brother, investigators found a hand-drawn map of the location of her body at Overstreet's home several days later, and DNA testing tied him to sperm found in her underwear.

    None of Indiana's other Death Row inmates has an execution date set, according to Department of Correction spokesman Douglas S. Garrison. If Overstreet loses the competency challenge, he could be next in line to be executed.

    Indiana's last execution was Dec. 11, 2009, when Matthew Wrinkles, 49, was put to death by lethal injection for the 1994 killings of his wife, her brother and sister-in-law in Evansville.

    Wrinkles was among 14 inmates executed in the first decade of the millennium, the most since the 1930s when 32 were executed in Indiana's electric chair. The executions from 2000 to 2009 included five in 2005, the most in a year since 1938, when the state executed eight.

    Since 1900, Indiana has executed 90 men, including 20 after the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Indiana has never executed a woman, but one female — Debra Denise Brown, who was sentenced to death in 1986 — is being held in Ohio on another murder charge.

    Indiana law since 1996 has called for executions by "intravenous injection of a lethal substance or substances ... in a quantity sufficient to cause the death of the convicted person." The substances used, however, is left to the Department of Correction.

    Indiana has used a three-drug combination that first renders the person unconscious, then stops breathing and, finally, stops the heart. But the manufacturer of sodium thiopental, which Indiana and many other states had used in the first phase, has stopped making it available in the U.S. due to opposition to its use in executions.

    Garrison said Indiana plans to continue with the same protocol, replacing sodium thiopental with another drug from the same class.

    "It is not," he stressed, "the way they did it in Ohio."

    Garrison was referring to the Jan. 16 execution of Dennis McGuire. Ohio officials used a new drug mix, and witnesses reported it took more than 10 minutes for McGuire to die. During that time he gasped loudly for air, "making snorting and choking sounds ... with his chest heaving and his fist clenched," The Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported.

    The horror of this incident added to the chorus of people who say the death penalty is barbaric.

    Their opinion, however, appears to be in the minority.

    Majority support death penalty

    A majority of Americans support the death penalty, according to Gallup polling in October. But the 60 percent approval rating is the lowest since 1972. Support peaked at 80 percent in 1994.

    "Most people in this country think it is the only appropriate punishment for the worst murders and that any alternative is not appropriate justice," said Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Foundation in Sacramento, Calif.

    While the deterrent value remains hotly debated, Rushford said, "if it saves one life, it seems worth it to me."

    Indiana is among 32 states that have a death penalty. Since 2006, six states — including Illinois — have stopped executing criminals. Those decisions have been driven by several factors, including moral opposition, the chance of an innocent person being executed and costs associated with the lengthy trial and appeals process.

    The clock on Overstreet's case has ticked on now for almost 15 years, less than the 16-year average from sentence to execution in Indiana since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1977.

    It's far too long for Eckart's mother and family.

    Sutton says she "didn't really think about the death penalty" until her daughter was killed. And she said her her support for the prosecutor's push to seek death for Overstreet was not a fast or easy decision.

    "We prayed about it and talked to our minster about it," she said. "It wasn't something we took lightly."

    Now, she said, it's time to bring the case to a close.

    "Kelly," she said, "didn't get 14 years to plead for her life."

    http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2...ution/5091175/

  5. #15
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Overstreet challenges execution over competency

    Attorneys for a convicted killer who has spent nearly 15 years awaiting execution for the death of a Franklin College freshman have launched what could be his last legal challenge by questioning whether he’s competent to be put to death.

    Michael Dean Overstreet was convicted in 2000 of raping and killing Kelly Eckart, who was abducted three years earlier while heading home from her night shift job at a Wal-Mart.

    Overstreet has appealed his sentence unsuccessfully to state and federal courts on grounds including the effectiveness of his trial attorneys, his mental state at the time of the crime and procedural decisions at trial. But the competency challenge is new and a rare strategy, legal experts say.

    The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from executing a person who is incompetent. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that includes people “who are unaware of the punishment that they are about to suffer and why they are to suffer it,” an Indiana Supreme Court order issued Sept. 3 notes.

    Criminal defendants often raise incompetence or insanity defenses during trials, but it’s less common at sentencing, The Indianapolis Star reported (http://indy.st/1nJmuRR ).

    Public defender Steven Schutte, who has represented Overstreet in state appeals since 2005, said the standard of proof for a competency challenge “is very exacting and precise.”

    “I’ve been doing these cases for 20 years, and it is not normal for competency to be raised,” Schutte said. “Dean is the first guy, in my experience, that I thought was not able to understand what’s going on.”

    Whether the appeal will succeed remains to be seen. The state Supreme Court sent the case back to Johnson Superior Court Judge Cynthia S. Emkes, who sentenced Overstreet to death 14 years ago, to determine whether he is competent to be executed. She was initially instructed to submit a report by March 3, but that deadline has been extended.

    Bryan Corbin, a spokesman for the Indiana attorney general’s office, said the state believes the death sentence should be upheld.

    A national death penalty opponent calls the issue of competency “one of the most disturbing aspects of the death penalty.”

    Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said the U.S. Supreme Court has left the process for determining competency to the states. That’s resulted in executions of prisoners she and others believe were incompetent in other states, she said.

    “We are concerned that states do not have adequate procedures to make that determination,” she said. “I am hoping that the Indiana officials and courts take a close look at that issue.”

    Overstreet is one of 13 inmates on Death Row in Indiana, which has not executed an inmate since Dec. 11, 2009. Matthew Wrinkles, 49, was put to death by lethal injection that day for the 1994 killings of his wife, her brother and sister-in-law in Evansville.

    Since 1900, Indiana has executed 90 men, including 20 after the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.

    Connie Sutton, Eckart’s mother, said it’s time to bring the case to a close so her daughter can finally be at peace.

    “Kelly didn’t get 14 years to plead for her life,” she said.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2sqNWUgBr
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #16
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    Indiana turning to new lethal injection drug for executions

    The next time Indiana conducts an execution at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, a new drug will be part of its lethal injection protocol.

    The nationwide shortage of thiopental sodium, known by its trademark name Pentathol, forced states that conducted executions by lethal injection to search for other alternatives.

    Indiana Department of Correction spokesman Douglas S. Garrison said the state will use Brevital, a barbiturate anesthetic in the same class as thiopental sodium. Garrison said Indiana has a sufficient supply of drugs to carry out an execution.

    The three-drug protocol Indiana uses starts with Brevital, followed by pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

    There are 13 inmates on the state’s death row in Michigan City, but none has a set execution date.

    Michael Overstreet, convicted in the 1997 strangulation of Kelly Eckart, 18, a Franklin College student, is next in line, Garrison said.

    “It could be this year,” he said.

    Overstreet’s appeals are nearly exhausted, and a ruling is expected soon on his latest challenge that he’s mentally incompetent.

    Indiana’s last execution was Dec. 11, 2009, when Matthew Eric Wrinkles was put to death for the 1994 slayings of his wife, her brother, and sister-in-law in Evansville.

    Indiana is one of 32 states with the death penalty. The state has executed 20 men since 1976 when the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban on capital punishment.

    One woman, Denise Debra Brown, convicted in the 1984 strangling of 7-year-old Tamika Turks in Gary, is on death row in Ohio for crimes there.

    Oklahoma’s bungled execution of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett on April 29 touched off a national death penalty debate. It comes at a time when the number of death sentences has dropped nationwide from 277 in 1990 to 80 last year.

    The growing scarcity of lethal injection drugs from reputable manufacturers has also prompted renewed cries for state death penalty bans.

    State Sen. Earline Rogers, a Gary Democrat, said her fellow lawmakers should put a ban on capital punishment on the top of their legislative agendas.

    State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, agreed. “It doesn’t make sense to me in a civilized community.”

    Cost is another nagging concern for Indiana counties.

    In Lake County, last year’s death penalty trial of Kevin Isom cost nearly $700,000. The state typically reimburses half the expenses.

    Isom was sentenced to death in the 2007 killings of his wife and two stepchildren in Gary.

    Meanwhile, because of the opposition of the death penalty by drug suppliers of thiopental sodium, Oklahoma experimented with a sedative called midazolam as part of its three-drug protocol when it executed Lockett.

    Witnesses said Lockett writhed through the execution and the midzolam dose that was supposed to knock him unconscious apparently didn’t work. Oklahoma officials said Lockett lost consciousness, but a vein collapsed in his groin and the tube failed that was administering the drugs. Lockett died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution began.

    http://posttrib.suntimes.com/2742493...l#.U3jtk_ldV5E

  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    Here's the episode of "Forensic Files: Blanket of Evidence" featuring the Michael Overstreet case:


  8. #18
    Member Member alexisidem's Avatar
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    The same episode and Michael Overstreet's history has been told on tv in Italy last night. Normally TV programms never tell about death penalty cases... Guess since we do not have capital punishment in our constitution anymore... Wrong though, we could discuss about it on the contrary.

  9. #19
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    Hearing will determine if man competent for death penalty

    The man sentenced to death for murdering a Franklin College student 17 years ago understands why he's on death row, but his attorneys say he doesn't comprehend that his execution will mean the end of his life.

    Now a South Bend judge will hear 4 days of testimony from doctors discussing whether Michael Dean Overstreet understands his punishment.

    If she determines he isn't competent, the decision would put an immediate halt to his death sentence. He would continue living in prison until a time when the state could prove he is competent.

    (Source: The Associated Press)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #20
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Trial today for man accused of 1997 killing of Franklin College student

    FRANKLIN, Ind. (AP) - The mother of an Indiana college student killed nearly 17 years ago says it is time for the man convicted of her murder and rape to be executed.

    A court hearing is scheduled to begin today in South Bend during which attorneys for 47-year-old Michael Dean Overstreet will try to convince a judge that he's too mentally ill to face execution.

    Overstreet was convicted in 2000 of abducting, raping and killing 18-year-old Franklin College student Kelly Eckart of Boggstown in September 1997.

    Connie Sutton tells the Daily Journal she doesn't believe Overstreet is suffering from delusions and hallucinations as doctors describe.

    If the judge agrees that he is, Overstreet's execution could be postponed indefinitely.

    Indiana has not carried out an execution since 2009.

    http://www.wthr.com/story/26420331/2...-for-execution
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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